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Susan Mayer Delfino
'''Susan Delfino' is one of the protagonists and titular characters of Desperate Housewives. Known for being a hopeless romantic and a klutz, as well as for her occasional portrayal of the “damsel in distress”, Susan is arguably the most fragile of all the housewives, and is often considered the nicest and most adorable one. Biography 'Early Life' Susan Bremmer was raised by single mother Sophie Bremmer. She was told her father, a United States Merchant Marine, died in the Battle of Hanoi during the Vietnam War. She was a cheerleader in her high school days and graduated as valedictorian of her class. However, she attended community college and eventually began writing and illustrating children's books. Her first book was Ants in My Picnic Basket. In her early twenties, Susan married Karl Mayer and gave birth to their daughter, Julie. In 1992, the family moved to Wisteria Lane in Fairview, Eagle State, where Susan befriended Mary Alice Young, her new neighbor. Susan became close friends with Mary Alice and with Bree Van de Kamp, Lynette Scavo, and Gabrielle Solis when they each moved onto Wisteria Lane. Susan was also friends with Edie Britt until she found out that she was sleeping with a married man. This led to the development of a love-hate relationship between the two women. During Susan and Karl's marriage, Karl was not loyal to his wife and flirted with numerous women. He had an affair with his secretary, Brandi, and left Susan in 2003, after twelve years of marriage. The two divorced and agreed to share custody of Julie, although she lived primarily with Susan. 'Season 1' The series begins a year after Susan's divorce. Mary Alice's unexpected suicide provokes Susan's suspicion about the Young family; however, her attention re-shifts when she meets a plumber, Mike Delfino, who has recently moved across the street. Susan begins to pursue Mike, only to find that Edie Britt has also taken a liking to the new neighbor. In an attempt to discover if Edie is sleeping with Mike, Susan enters her home and overhears Edie having sex with someone upstairs. Susan accidentally burns down Edie's house. Despite feeling guilty, Susan is pleased to learn that Mike was not in Edie's company. Susan and Mike's interest in one another deepens, though Edie continues to pose competition for his affections. Eventually, Edie backs off and Susan and Mike consummate their relationship, eventually professing their love for one another. Having discovered a blackmail note among Mary Alice's belongings after her death, Susan and her friends begin questioning the truth behind her suicide and the secrets her family kept. Susan and Julie discover that Mary Alice's husband, Paul had their son, Zach Young, committed to a youth mental institution. Julie begins corresponding with Zach without Susan's knowledge. When he escapes the mental institution, Julie allows him to stay in her room without her mother's knowledge. Susan and Mike discover Zach while Julie is at school and return him to Paul. Soon, however, Susan discovers that Julie and Zach are dating, which makes her uneasy. When she asks Zach to stop seeing her daughter, he has an outburst, provoking her to forbid him from seeing Julie at all. As her relationship with Mike moves forward, Susan begins to uncover pieces of his hidden past. Her suspicions are aroused first when she meets Kendra Taylor, a mysterious woman from Mike's past, and again when she discovers a gun and large sums of money in his kitchen cabinets. During their Valentine's Day dinner, Mike collapses from a gunshot wound that he insists was self-inflicted. Additionally, Lynette's children find bloody jewelry in Mike's garage that connect him with the murder of Wisteria Lane resident Martha Huber. Susan and her friends decide to submit the evidence to the police. However, upon police investigation, she recalls that she and Mike had sex for the first time on the night Martha went missing. When Susan is brought in for questioning, she learns that Mike was convicted for manslaughter and drug trafficking in 1987 and that his gunshot wound suggests he was responsible for a break-in across town. Susan breaks off the relationship. In her new-found free time, Susan's interest in the Young family is renewed. She uncovers details of Mary Alice's real name, Angela, and the possible existence of a second Young child. Paul fabricates unconvincing lies to thwart Susan's efforts to discover his family's secrets. When a private detective (who was paid off by Paul) confirms his lies, Susan asks him to look into Mike's history. She is mortified to learn that Mike's victim was a cop. She contacts Kendra, hoping to understand the full story. Kendra explains that her sister and Mike's girlfriend at the time, Diedre, got involved in drugs and was forced to trade sex for freedom by a corrupt police officer. Mike, in trying to protect Dierdre and himself, unintentionally killed the cop. Susan reignites her relationship with Mike. Mike and Susan move into her house. While Mike is away on business, Susan goes to his house to feed his dog and discovers Zach, armed with a handgun. He tells her wait for Mike to return home so he can kill him. 'Season 2' When Mike returns home to find Zach holding Susan hostage, Susan takes the gun from Zach and fires it harmlessly. Zach escapes, which leads Mike to confess to Susan that Zach is his biological son that Dierdre had sold him to Mary Alice and Paul years earlier. Given her history with Zach and his family, Susan tells Mike that if he continues to search for Zach, they cannot move in together. Susan and Mike decide to continue their relationship on a more casual basis. However, Susan eventually decides that she is willing to accept Zach for Mike's sake. She agrees to help Mike on his search and she eventually finds Zach on her own. She tries to convince him to come home; however, when he mentions his hope of rekindling his romance with Julie, she agrees to give him money to go to Utah and look for Paul. Paul returns to Wisteria Lane and assumes that Susan knows where Zach is. She reluctantly tells him how she sent him to Utah, and Paul passes the information on to Mike. Feeling angry and betrayed, Mike terminates the relationship. Susan is dismayed to learn that her ex-husband, Karl, has moved in with Edie. After her break-up with Mike and a brief split between Karl and Edie, Susan and Karl sleep together. The next morning, Susan tells Karl there is no chance of them getting back together and Karl returns to Edie. With less passion in her life, Susan decides to write an autobiography. While doing research about her father, Susan learns that there never was a Battle of Hanoi, forcing her mother to confess that her father is still alive and lives across town. She tries to establish a relationship with her reluctant father, Addison Prudy, a local business owner, but her attempts are effectively unsuccessful. After a trip to hospital for bumping her head, Susan meets Dr. Ron. The two begin seeing each other. He also informs her that she has a wandering spleen and will need a operation. Susan learns that her health insurance will not cover the operation. Edie suggests that she marry someone who has a good health plan and needs a wife. After her husband of convenience backs out at the last minute, Karl offers to marry her. They agree to keep the fake marriage a secret from Edie and Ron. Before her surgery, a nurse at the hospital discovers that Susan is married. While under anesthesia, Susan confesses her love for Mike to Ron, prompting the nurse to reveal her earlier discovery. Ron ends the relationship and informs Edie of Susan and Karl's marriage. Edie is furious and demands Karl give her a lavish wedding. Later, Karl tells Susan that he broke up with Edie and the two end up in bed together again. The next morning, he admits that he has not yet broken up with her. When Karl finally does leave Edie, he tells her there is someone else. In response, Edie hires a private detective to identify his other woman. Upon learning that Susan is the other woman, Edie intentionally sets Susan's house on fire. In this time of need, both Mike and Karl vie for Susan's affections. She tells Karl that he must sign their divorce papers even though he still loves her. She and Mike then make plans to meet for dinner at nearby Torch Lake, where Mike plans to propose. On his way to dinner, Mike is a victim of a hit-and-run at the hands of Orson Hodge, whom Susan had recently befriended. 'Season 3' As a result of the hit-and-run, Mike falls into a coma. Having lived in denial for six months, Susan begins to think that Mike may never wake up. Susan then begins dating Ian Hainsworth, a British man whose wife, Jane, has been in a coma for years. Susan and Ian decide to take a romantic vacation in the country and have sex for the first time. Meanwhile, Edie visits Mike in the hospital to retrieve her CD player and Mike awakens. Edie learns that Mike now suffers from amnesia and his most recent memory is moving to Wisteria Lane in 2004, over two years ago. Edie sees a window of opportunity and, rather than helping Mike recall the past two years of his life, she lies and says that while Mike and Susan were dating, she treated him "like dirt" and he did not love her. Mike believes Edie's lies and turns Susan away when she comes to visit. Susan learns that Edie has been taking advantage of Mike's amnesia by pretending to be his girlfriend. Mike is unwilling to listen to Susan's explanation of the truth, especially when he learns about Ian. Having lost hope, Susan continues her romance with Ian. Susan is suspicious of Bree's new husband, Orson, especially after his former neighbor, Carolyn Bigsby, accuses him of murdering his missing wife, Alma. Bree soon confides in Susan and tells her that Orson may have murdered his former mistress, Monique Pollier, as well. However, Mike is arrested for Monique's murder, restoring both Bree's faith in Orson and Susan's loyalty to Mike. Edie breaks up with Mike, leaving him without bail. Ian issues an ultimatum, promising to pay Mike's bail if Susan stops seeing and speaking to him. Susan tips off the police about Orson's possible involvement in Monique's murder, causing a rift in her friendship with Bree. After Jane passes away, Susan realizes that must stay completely true to Ian and backs away from Mike, who has been acquitted. Almost immediately after, Susan accepts a marriage proposal from Ian and she and Bree reconcile. As he slowly regains his memory, Mike remembers how he was going to propose to Susan before the hit-and-run. He challenges Ian for her affections in a game of poker, which Ian wins. Mike initially backs off, but begins pursuing Susan once again. Soon, Mike and Ian admit to having bet her in a poker game. She calls off the wedding and declares that she does not want to see either of them again. Realizing that letting both of them go is a mistake, Susan decides to take Ian back. However, he tells her that he cannot spend the rest of his life wondering if she is still in love with Mike, and he leaves. Susan and Mike reunite and become engaged. The couple get married in a private ceremony in the woods, with Julie as their only guest. 'Season 4' One month after marrying Mike, Susan learns that she is pregnant. While looking into their medical histories for the baby's interest, Mike is forced to tell Susan that he lied about his father being dead. Susan visits Mike's father, Nick, who is in jail for murder. Nick warns Susan that Mike has had a troubled past and she should keep an eye on him. With the stress of finances for the baby, Mike begins working overtime, despite an injury resulting from the hit-and-run over a year ago. He begins relying on pills and accidentally leaves one on Bree's kitchen floor for her to find. She convinces Susan to confront him. Mike apologizes and promises to stop taking the pills. However, Susan finds pills in Mike's truck and tells him that if he does not go to rehab, she will leave him; he agrees to commit himself. After a devastating tornado hits Wisteria Lane, Bree, Orson, and their newborn, Benjamin, move into Susan's house temporarily. During his stay, Orson develops a sleep walking habit and unconsciously admits to running Mike over to Julie. Julie tells Mike, who then addresses Orson about his confession. Exemplifying clear signs of remorse, Orson admits once more what he had done. Susan feels extremely betrayed and Bree, unable to forgive Orson, asks him to move out. Shortly after, Susan gives birth to a baby boy. They name their son Maynard, after Mike's deceased grandfather. Also, Julie leaves to attend Princeton University for an early summer internship. In the five years that take place between seasons four and five, Susan and Mike are involved in a car crash that kills a mother and her daughter. Although Susan was driving, Mike takes the blame, as Susan cannot find her license after the accident. Susan feels incredibly guilty for taking the lives of Lila and Paige Dash, but Mike insists it was not their fault. The argument over the topic becomes so great that it results in divorce. Giving up on love, Susan engages in a casual relationship with her house painter, Jackson Braddock. 'Season 5' Susan had managed to keep her relationship with Jackson a secret from her friends and her son, nicknamed M.J. Despite their initial agreement to have their relationship strictly sexual, Jackson seeks for a deeper connection. Jackson asks if he can move in with Susan, who responds by confessing that she wants to keep the relationship as it is. Soon enough, Mike and MJ learn about the relationship. Mike and Jackson become friends, which Susan agrees is healthy for MJ's sake. Still, Mike works long hours and lives far away, causing him to miss out on his son's life. As a result, he moves across the street from Susan. Jackson makes the sudden announcement that he is moving to nearby Riverton and asks Susan to come with him. After much consideration, Susan decides that she is unsure of what she wants and turns down Jackson's offer. Much to her dismay, Susan learns that Mike has begun dating Katherine, her close friend and neighbor. Realizing that she cannot keep Mike from being happy, Susan gives the couple her blessing, despite still feeling uncomfortable. Fearing that MJ is getting left behind in school, she takes a job at a private school in order to enroll MJ and pay for his tuition. With both Susan and Mike employed, MJ spends a great amount of time under Katherine's care. Susan is uncomfortable with MJ spending so much time with her and is heartbroken to learn that Mike is moving in with Katherine and that MJ will be seeing Katherine more often. Following Edie's death in a fatal car accident, Susan attempts to comfort Edie's husband, Dave Williams. She then explains to him the truth behind her own accident and how the guilt tore apart her marriage. Susan is unaware that Dave is the husband of Paige and Lila Dash and has been seeking revenge against Mike for taking away his family. Meanwhile, Jackson returns to Fairview and proposes to Susan. She is relieved, as she never truly got over her feelings for him. However, he then explains that he is in the country on an expired visa and only needs to marry Susan to stay in the country and continue his work. When Susan learns that Mike, who is engaged to Katherine, will no longer have to pay alimony once she is married, she explains the false pretenses of her engagement. Dave overhears this and reports Jackson to immigration officials. With Jackson out of the picture, Dave invites Susan and M.J. on a fishing trip, planning to kill MJ just like Susan killed his own child. Dave leaves behind a video tape detailing his plan. Mike finds it and abandons Katherine at the airport right before their flight for their Las Vegas wedding to save Susan and MJ Mike calls Susan to warn her, but Dave commands the situation and tells Mike to meet them at the sight of their car accident some years earlier. Dave bounds Susan on the side of the road and plans to drive his car, with MJ in it, right in front of Mike's car as he approaches at top speed. However, guilt consumes Dave and he lets MJ out. Dave and Mike's cars still collide, but no one is seriously injured. Susan and Mike share a brief kiss. Dave is sent to a mental hospital in Boston and two months later Mike marries an unidentified bride. 'Season 6' Susan is identified as Mike's bride in the sixth season premiere. In the eight weeks leading up to the wedding, Susan avoids any contact with Katherine, failing to offer her support or an apology, which intensifies Katherine's anger toward Susan. After the wedding, Julie is strangled outside of Susan's home. Julie slips into a coma following her attack. While waiting for her to awaken, Susan learns that Julie had dropped out of medical school, was involved with a married man, and had a pregnancy scare before her attack. When Julie awakens, she refuses to identify the married man she was seeing. Later in the season, Julie's attacker is revealed to be Eddie Orlofsky (Josh Zuckerman), a local young adult who is also responsible for a handful of murders in Fairview. Prior to the attack, Susan had taken Eddie on as an art student and he developed a crush on her. When he discovered that she was remarrying Mike and that she did not see him as a romantic suitor, he attack Julie, mistaking her for Susan. Katherine continues to pursue Mike, believing that he is still in love with her. She becomes dangerously close with M.J., telling him that his mother had victimized her. Mike warns her to leave his family alone, as he never truly loved her. After he leaves, Katherine calls 9-1-1 asking for an ambulance, and then stabs herself with a knife with Mike's fingerprints on it.Katherine frames Mike for her wound. Susan, realizing that Katherine has suffered a total nervous breakdown, calls Katherine's daughter, Dylan (Lyndsy Fonseca), who comes to town and has her mother committed for psychiatric observation. Susan later forgives Katherine once she recovers from her breakdown. Soon after,Mike reveals that he has accumulated an immense debt in the past year. Unable to balance their debt, Susan and Mike decide to move off Wisteria Lane and rent their house out temporarily. They move into an apartment across town while Paul Young rents their house on Wisteria Lane. 'Season 7' Susan accepts an offer from her landlady, Maxine Rosen, to appear on a website in which she does housework in her lingerie in order to make ends meet, though she keeps her new job a secret from her friends and family. Soon after, Maxine's site is merged with a larger company that uses Susan's image to advertise the website on billboards across the country. Susan pays the company $9,000 to have the billboards removed As a result, she begins working for the website's video chatting services to earn back the money. Paul discovers her secret and threatens to expose it unless she sells him her home, in which he now lives with his second wife, Beth. Hoping to derail Paul's blackmail scheme, Susan tells Mike about her job on the website. Paul retaliates by spreading the word about Susan's involvement with the website, causing her to lose her teaching job. Strapped for money, Mike accepts a job on an oil rig in Alaska and Susan becomes Lynette's nanny. After purchasing a majority of the houses on Wisteria Lane, Paul announces that he plans to open a halfway house for ex-convicts on the street. A protest against his plan escalates into a violent riot and Susan is trampled by the unruly crowd. As a result, Susan loses a kidney and learns that her second kidney is deformed and she is at severe risk of renal failure. She reluctantly agrees to undergo dialysis while waiting for a transplant. After Paul throws her out, Beth submits paperwork indicating that in the event of her death, her kidney would be given to Susan, and then commits suicide. Despite initial refusal, Paul allows the operation to move forward and he and Susan reconcile. After discovering that Paul has been depressed following Beth's suicide, Susan begins cooking meals for him with the assistance of Felicia Tilman, Beth's mother and Martha Huber's sister, who secretly adds antifreeze to the food in an effort to kill him. Paul nearly dies as a result of the poisoned food. Unaware that Felicia is helping prepare his meals, Paul has Susan arrested for attempting to kill him. Eventually, Susan is released, Paul confesses to the murder of Martha Huber, and Felicia presumably dies in a car crash while fleeing town. Susan and her family move back onto Wisteria Lane. During a dinner party, Gabrielle's former stepfather, Alejandro attempts to harm Gabrielle until Carlos kills him. Susan, Lynette, and Bree agree to help cover up the crime 'Season 8' For a month after making a pact with the girls; Susan started feeling the guilt of the secret so she started to stay inside and avoid her friends. Mike noticed something was up, but she assured him she was fine. However, Mike's questioning urged Susan to tell him her secret, but she decided not to, in order to protect Carlos and her friends. Personality Susan is characterized as an "accident-prone klutz," a trait she inherited from her mother. Susan "rarely has an error-free moment and when it seems things are finally looking up for her, she does something terrible to screw it up." Susan is also emotionally-driven and "a romantic at heart." She has described herself as someone who always lets a romantic fantasy consume her. She has a strong reliance on men, as evidenced when Edie deduces that Susan only spent forty-one days of her high school and college years single. Relationships For a complete list of Susan's relationships throughout the show, see Susan's relationships Quotations Behind Closed Doors While developing the series, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry envisioned Susan as a girl next door and chose her to convey this image. The character is a compendium of single mothers in Cherry's life "desperate to land a man." He also drew upon his own personal experiences while creating the character. Julia Louis-Dreyfus expressed interest in the role, but ABC executives felt she was not right for the part. Actors originally considered for the role include Courteney Cox, Calista Flockhart, Heather Locklear, Mary-Louise Parker, and Sela Ward. Cherry wrote the part with Parker in mind, but she rejected the offer, later explaining "it just didn’t feel like I was gonna serve it as well as someone else might." Teri Hatcher auditioned for the role in January 2004 and impressed Cherry immediately. After a second audition, Hatcher read for the role in front of network executives. Cherry praised her performance, saying "it was the best audition I've ever seen in network." Hatcher later commented, "I don't think they were hot to hire me for Susan... I was maybe on a B-list, certainly not an A-list." Despite her reservations, Hatcher was the third reported cast member to be cast in the series on February 18, 2004. The character has appeared onscreen in every episode of the series, one of only three characters to do so. Gallery 29susanrunning.jpg 49723237.jpg 528075742 small.jpg Desperate-Housewives-7x19.png Desperate-housewives-s5e1-20090316094314-3 625x352.jpg Gabrielle and Susan.jpg HelpfulSusan.jpg ImagesCAMZ9Q8E.jpg Lynette Susan.jpg Mary Alice Susan 2.jpg MayerFamily.jpg Mike-and-Susan-wedding-724710.jpg Renee and Tom help Susan.jpg SexySusan.jpg Sophie arrives.jpg Susan&MikeS3.jpg Susan, Mike and MJ.jpg Susan-mayer.jpg Susan-s1-mike-date.jpg Susan.jpg SusanS8.png SusanWelcomeBackWisteriaLane.jpg Susan Delfino S7.jpg Susan Edie.jpg Susan Mayer.jpg Susan Promo.jpg Susan S5.jpg Susan S5 3.jpg Susan S6 2.jpg Susan and Ian.jpg Susan and MJ.jpg Susan edit.jpg SusanandMike S1 .jpg SusanS7New.jpg Trivia *Susan was originally planned to be named Susan Meyer (stated in the book Behind Closed Doors (...)). *Both Courteney Cox and Heather Locklear turned down the role; Cox because she was pregnant (but she was Marc Cherry's first choice for the role), and Locklear because she was starring in LAX. Michelle Rodriguez, Calista Flockhart and Mary-Louise Parker were also considered before the part went to Teri Hatcher. *Susan has married both of her husbands twice. *She is one of only three characters to have appeared in every episode to date. *Actress Teri Hatcher is the first whose name appears in the credits. This has lead to a lot of speculation over the years on whether she is the main actress of the series or not. de:Susan Delfino fr:Susan Delfino Category:Main characters Category:Housewives Category:Mothers Category:Females Category:Season 1 characters Category:Season 2 characters Category:Season 3 characters Category:Season 4 characters Category:Season 5 characters Category:Season 6 characters Category:Season 7 characters Category:Flashback Characters Category:Married characters Category:Musicians Category:Divorced characters Category:Teachers Category:Homeowners Association members Category:Delfino family Category:Wisteria Lane residents Category:Time-Jump characters Category:Gun owners Category:Desperate Housewives: The Game characters Category:Businesspersons Category:Mother of a main character Category:Mother of a supporting character Category:Adulterers Category:Susan's family Category:Season 8 characters Category:Characters in all 8 seasons